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2) Dynamic Assessment
Zahra Fayaz Dynamic Assessment ' Introducing Dynamic Assessment and Intelligence ' ' ' ' Introduction ' It is about the relationship that dynamic assessment has with intelligence and measurement. It is a treatise which seeks to pave a way for the ‘ movement ’ of dynamic assessment in order to allow for gradual development of this unique approach to assessment of potential while remaining firmly embedded within a scientific approach to the study of psychology. dynamic assessment, intelligence and measurement are not concepts that can be considered interchangeable in terms of being at the same conceptual level. They are areas of concern which work together and not in isolation. They are not competitive areas within psychology. Dynamic assessment is an approach to understanding and conceiving an individual in the assessment process. Intelligence is a field dealing with matters concerning various descriptors of what is considered intelligent and measurement theory offers tools for dynamic assessors and intelligence researchers. Dynamic assessment is a tool as well as an approach and is process - based. Measurement theory assists dynamic assessment theory in terms of allowing the fluid concept of potential to be measured as one would normally expect a static - based concept such as intelligence to be measured. What is dynamic assessment ? ' Dynamic Assessment in its simplest definition means supporting learner development actively by understanding learner abilities. It is neither an assessment tool nor a method of assessing. ' Contextualization ' Dynamic assessment is a manner of assessing individuals in a fluid, process - oriented and flexible way and has much to offer the field of intellectual assessment due to its unique stance on measurement. The origins of dynamic assessment are in areas of research in which practitioners were originally given mandates to assess prospective learners within specific cultural contexts. Concepts, ideals and notions associated with this type of assessment were often translated into quantifiable measurements in order to satisfy the reigning paradigm of testing. More often than not, dynamic assessment ideals did not filter through to later versions and modifications of tests, and the goal of many early intelligence tests was to categorize individuals based on their performance within the testing situation. The origins of dynamic assessment are widespread geographically, disparate in terms of initial reasons for its use and culturally diverse in the contexts within which it works. Dynamic assessment may be possible to link various trends and researchers within this field by investigating the historical influences, basic premises on which theories are based and contemporaneous personalities within intelligence assessment. ' History of Dynamic Assessment ' '' Lev Vygotsky '' Some laud Vygotsky as the founding father due to his unique concept of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) within socio - cultural theory (Elliott, 2003 ; Hamers, Hessels & Pennings, 1996 ; Hegarty, 1988 ), which states that cognitive performance, when aid is provided, will result in the best measure of ability (Hamers & Sijtsma, 1993 ;Meijer, 1993 ; Shamir & Tzuriel, 2002 ), thus leading to the learning test (Guthke, 1982 ). Reality as such is never met face to face, but is engaged with via tools of mediation (Netchine - Grynberg, 1995 ). Depending on the level of support a child receives on a task, different outcomes can be expected; performance at the functional level is expected with minimal or no support as opposed to optimal performance with support (Suizzo,2000 ) and clearly distinguishes between ‘ performance ’ and ‘ competence ’ (Gelman, 2000 ). His approach was later expanded by other Soviet educationalists and formulated more extensively regarding its educational implications (Haenen, 2000). '' Alfred Binet '' Binet understood correct responses as indicative of ability, whereas Jean Piaget was interested in errors. This was a novel notion at the time but is routinely accepted within current dynamic assessment today; however, Piaget was not really concerned with remediation (Anastasi, 1998 ; Chalmers & McGonigle, 2000; Lidz & Thomas, 1987; Sternberg, 1997a ; Styles, 1999 ; Ukrainetz, Harpell, Walsh & Coyle, 2000 ). He also offered interesting ideas on remediation but due to its generality the idea receded into the background (Brown, Campione, Webber & McGilly, 1993). '' Reuven Feuerstein '' Feuerstein is sometimes also credited with Vygotsky as equal co - contributors to the field (Haywood & Tzuriel, 1992). Feuerstein also emphasized what individuals did incorrectly in an attempt to come to a better understanding of their functioning and did so within a mediated learning experiential environment (Büchel & Scharnhorst, 1993; Shamir & Tzuriel, 2002 ). Feuerstein may be cited as the founding figure due to the development of his test battery within this domain (Skuy, 1989 ) and his published and widely recognized work on the subject (Lidz, 1992b ). It is due largely to Feuerstein and his followers that dynamic assessment has flourished, especially its gradual development in the West (Sternberg & Grigorenko, 2002 ). His emphasis on a bio - ecological model of human functioning emphasizes distal and proximal factors and thus takes cognizance of indirectly impinging variables, such as genetic heritage and early childhood experiences as well as cultural and socio - economic factors in the developing child. '' Ceci ’ s Bio - Ecological Model '' Although not making up the majority of the work, a fair section of the material is pleasingly modern in its outlook, which leads one to wonder why some ideas have taken so long to gain a stronghold within mainstream pedagogy, education and assessment. DeWeerdt (1927) begins her article with a statement the whole scheme of formal education is based upon the fundamental concept of improvability ’ (p. 547; emphasis added), and goes on to state: ‘ the educator has always been interested in this capacity of the individual and has measured it in a more or less direct way through class achievement … we have relatively little material on the learning or improvability of children under classroom conditions ’ (p. 547; emphasis added). Socio – economic factors as well as cultural mediatory factors and their influences are felt as early as the third grade in school (Portes & Vadeboncoeur, 2003). Remediation in general becomes successively more difficult as age increases (Humphreys, 1988 ), though it is not necessarily impossible. Intellective factors are only a part of the spectrum of aspects influencing development, and mediated learning experience places cognitive, emotional and cultural dimensions on a par with intellective factors in the model (Skuy, 2002 ). Feuerstein ’ s emphasis on the modifiability of cognitive processes can be traced back to the time he was studying under Piaget, whose models of child cognition are synonymous with the developmental tradition, but he later left Piaget to study under André Rey (Burgess, 2000). ' The characteristics of DA: 1. Modifying the format 2. Providing more trials 3. Providing information on successful strategies 4. Offering increasingly more direct cues, hint, or prompts 5. Providing the simplify task and more practice Some type of measures in Dynamic assessment: An open-ended approach (Feuerstein 1997): DA consists of pretest-mediate/intervention-posttest format to determine students learning potential examine their level of modifiability through mediated learning experience Zone of proximal development approach (Vygotsky 1978): ' This approach is difference between a student’s independent performance and the level of performance. Problem-solving tasks: By problem-solving tasks I am referring to tasks which pose conceptual or logical puzzles and which are deliberately intended to engage learners in talking through the nature of the problem, identifying potential explanations, and evaluating them before arriving at a preferred solution. In the result of purpose of DA is measure a student’s current performance and students learning potential, and it suggested to teachers to enhance students’ performance which might otherwise be undiscovered by traditional (static) assessments. Dynamic Assessment enables the assessment of cognitive processes: 1. ongoing tactics, 2. strategies 3. habits 4. modes of thinking (approaching, defining, and solving problems). It is also noted that DA lends itself to assessment of ‘fluid’ abilities: those in a state of change, or varying in the way they are used and applied, rather than assessing ‘crystallized’ abilities, that represent an outcome of learning or acquisition. Dynamic assessment is an alternative assessment that attempts to measure a child’s learning potential and is most commonly used in conjunction with standardized tests (Caffrey, Fuchs & Fuchs, 2008). A variety of dynamic assessment approaches are employed as alternative types of assessment. A type of dynamic assessment commonly used in the reading literature is the test-teach-retest method. Test-teach-retest measures a child’s ability to learn after a predesigned learning opportunity rather than assessing previous knowledge. This method begins by administering a test, considered a pretest, which establishes the child’s current performance. Dynamic Assessment should examine the effects of an awareness raising session on students. Awareness Session is any activity where the students are actively and purposefully using their minds in problem solving and reaching a concluding by the help of clues. '''PROCEDURE of DYNAMIC ASSESSMENT ' The change in scores from pretest to posttest is referred to as the gain score, which is useful in differentiating a disorder from a difference. Children whose pretest to posttest scores show a significant increase in scores are not disordered because the increase in scores show that they can learn the material if provided with opportunities. A significant gain score is an indication that learning skills related to the task were not present due to either a culturally diverse background or lack of experience. Similarly, if there is a small gain score then two possibilities exist. The first option is that the child’s pretest score was not significantly low and the posttest score is similar to the pretest, indicating that this child did not need to be assessed in this area. However, if the child scores significantly lower than peers on a pretest and does not show a significant gain score then a disorder may be present as evidenced by the learning that did not occur (Gutierrez-Clellen & Pena, 2001). Dynamic assessment is an assessment method based on Vygotsky's model of cognitive development. A key component to this model is the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). The ZPD is the area between what a child can do independently and what a child can do when helped by caregivers or peers. The purpose of dynamic assessment is to determine how much learning can take place in the ZPD during a specially designed session, or sessions, for each individual rather than a score that indicates performance at a specific point in time. Vygotsky believed that the early development of understanding occurs through interaction with others. In this period greater achievement is possible when a child learns through collaboration with a more experienced or informed guide. This difference between a child’s own performance and his/her achievement when guided by an adult or in collaboration with a more experienced peer, reflects the child’s developmental potential referred to by Vygotsky as the ‘zone of proximal development’ (commonly, ZPD). Vygotsky proposed that in order to understand the cognitive development of an individual one should understand his/her social, cultural, and historical background. The origins of higher mental functions of the child derive from social interactions with more experienced members who guide the child toward higher levels of mastery. Any function of children’s development appears twice, first at the social level and then, via an internalization process, on the psychological level. The internalization process is gradual, starting with help from an experienced adult or from peers. Gradually, children take more initiative while the adults modify their guidance until, finally, the children become independent in self-regulating the learning process, with the adults having only a supportive function. Inspired by the Vygotsky’s approach, several authors have developed DA techniques such as the learning test and the graduated prompt procedure. 'Four methods for dynamic assessment to get at the child’s best performance or understanding are: ' '''Testing the Limits - Traditional test procedures are modified by rephrasing the question, posing it differently, or encouraging the child to show what s/he knows. In dynamic assessment, the examiner would go beyond simple feedback (saying “That is correct”) to elaborate feedback (ask the student to provide the reasons why the answer is correct). Example: When testing vocabulary, if learners who are Culturally and/or Linguistically Diverse (CLD) get the word correct, say “Good, why did you say that?” If they miss the word, explain why the response was incorrect and ask them to try again. Clinical Interview - A form of testing the limits, clinical interviewing allows for modifying the administration of a test to generate questions to help children understand how they are thinking about a test question to facilitate their awareness of targeted skills. Example: During testing, the examiner would ask the CLD learner, “How did you know this?” or “What would happen if...” in an attempt to understand why they responded the way they did. Graduated Prompting - In an attempt to identify the ZPD, the student is provided a series of verbal clues that are graduated in difficulty from the easiest to the most difficult. The examiner focuses on that point where the student is able to demonstrate knowledge or proficiency, judging the distance on a continuum (no transfer, near transfer, far transfer, very far transfer). Example: In language proficiency testing, the student who is in the Silent Receptive stage and can only produce one-word responses is prompted, “This is a baby,” then asked, “What is this?” then prompted, “Ask me what is this” (in reference to the picture of a baby). Test-Teach-Retest - The examiner provides an intervention designed to modify the student’s level of functioning in the target area. By first assessing, then teaching the principles of the task, then assessing again, the examiner can determine the extent of learning that occurs. Example: CLD learners may be asked to tell a story about a picture book and the examiner evaluates the use of story ideas, structure, and language. Then teaching occurs in which the examiner targets two areas in which the student had difficulty. Finally, the student is asked to re-tell the story and the test-retest gains are assessed along with ratings of listener effort, responsiveness, and modifiability.